Farmingdale, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Basketball team cut an 18-point second half deficit to five points late in the second half, but could not overcome the disadvantage and fell on the road at Farmingdale State 87-81 Wednesday night. Senior Kendall Francis (Great Neck, N.Y.) led three Knights in double-figures with 26 points.
 
A tightly contested first half saw the Mount hold a game-high one-point lead on four occasions. The Mount's final lead of the game came on an Eli Campbell (Upper Marlboro, Md.) jumper that pushed the Knights in front 26-25 with 7:05 left in the opening period.
 
Farmingdale State answered with a Chaz Platt triple that started a quick 6-0 spurt that pushed the Rams back in front 31-26 with 5:15 left in the half. The Rams would not trail again in the game and after a Nick Lucas (Sparta, N.J.) conversion tied the score at 35-35, the Rams tallied seven of the final 10 points of the period to carry a 42-38 lead into the intermission.
 
Both teams were efficient before the break, with the Mount shooting an even 50-percent in 28 attempts and the Rams converting at nearly 58-percent in 26 attempts. Farmingdale State rattled home six triples in the opening 20 minutes and received 10 points from Ryan Kennedy. Francis matched Kennedy with 10 points for the Mount on the strength of 4-for-5 shooting from the free-throw line.
 
Farmingdale State quickly pushed its lead to double-figures in the second half on three-pointers from Kennedy and Corey Powell and went on to use a 21-10 run to stretch its lead to 71-53 on a Jermaine Fraser layup with 9:10 left in regulation.
 
Mount Saint Mary whittled the disadvantage down to 12 points on an Ethan Fox (Wallingford, Conn.) lay-in with 5:41 to play and after the Rams got back out in front by 16 with under two minutes left the Knights mounted one more charge late in the second half.
 
Francis started a 14-3 spurt for the Knights with a layup in transition and scored 12 of the team's 14 points over the run. Francis knocked in a three-pointer on the fast break with 20 seconds left to get the Mount to within 84-79, but the Rams knocked in three free-throws over the final 15 seconds to hold off the Knights.
 
Farmingdale State hit five of its eight three-point attempts after halftime and outscored the Mount 14-3 from the free-throw line after the break to post the win. Francis went 7-for-14 from the floor after the break and tallied 16 points in the second stanza.
 
Francis led the Mount with 26 points after going 10-for-21 from the floor, closing a strong night with seven assists and six steals while matching the team-high with five rebounds. Fox joined Francis with five boards for the Knights and chipped in 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting.
 
Junior Paul Sienke (Washington, D.C.) tallied 15 points for the Mount and added four steals, while Lucas contributed eight points, two rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
 
The Rams placed four in double-figures on the night, led by a game-high 27 points from Hunter Schenkel who went 8-for-10 from the field and 5-for-7 from three-point range. Kennedy and Anthony Miller, Jr. each scored 15 points while Powell added 13 points and three assists.
 
Farmingdale State finished the night shooting an efficient 57.1-percent from the floor overall, including an 11-for-19 effort from three-point range. The Mount shot just over 49-percent in the game and knocked in seven triples. The Mount held the advantage in paint scoring 42-32, points off of turnovers 24-12 and fast break points 28-12.
 
Wednesday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 4-11 overall on the season and to 2-4 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Mount is a trip to Old Westbury on Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off with the Panthers.